Ben Gibbard closed out the night, but not before comedian/musician Fred Armisen made a surprise appearance as the Death Cab for Cutie frontman himself. Armisen’s intentional false starts included lines like, “This song is about how much I hate the Death Cab fans. They’re so overweight and…shitty,” and, “Chicago’s a really great town for pussy for me.” Gibbard then appeared to applause and quickly sucked out the feeling with a mix of Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie songs. While on piano, he accurately remarked that with his long hair and sideburns he was starting to resemble Stephen Stills, before playing covers of Teenage Fanclub’s “Slow Fade” (a “newer song” by “my favorite band ever”) and the Band’s “It Makes No Difference”, which his thin, breathy tenor made particularly painful.

At the end of the evening, Glass announced that the money the audience had donated during the show had just surpassed the $5,000 goal. The audience’s reward? Gibbard and Roderick returned to the stage with Scotland Yard’s Elia Einhorn to play “the worst song in the world and a Neil Diamond song” (à la the David Byrne/Sufjan collaboration in New York the night before). Gibbard informed us that both titles belonged to the same song, and then the trio launched into a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Porcupine Pie”. It was a fittingly absurd end to a benefit for a children’s creative writing center.